The Republican Party of Florida today announced that Gov. Rick Scott's political committee will spend about $2 million to air his second ad bashing Democrat Charlie Crist over tuition increases signed by the former governor.

The latest commercial, his 11th, probably brings Scott's total spending to about $16 million since mid-March. About half of the ad buys are Crist-bashers like this one.

The tuition attacks are potent on three levels: They're pocketbook issues, they're part of a broader national discussion and they affect young people, who tend to vote Democrat. But young people also tend to skip midterms. So if Scott can peel some of these away from Crist, it's a double whammy for the Democrat.

The ad doesn't mention that Scott's running mate, Lieutenant Gov. Carlos Lopez-Cantera, alos voted for the tuition increases, which Crist signed off on at the insistence of Republican legislative leaders. The increases weren't rolled back by Scott but were stopped under the election-year legislation he just signed.

"Charlie Crist consistently raised tuition as governor, even allowing it to increase up to 15 percent every single year. He even said it was the right thing to do," the state's Republican Party chair, Leslie Dougher, said in a written statement announcing the ad buy. "Governor Scott knows that making it harder for Floridians to get a college degree is never the right thing, which is why he reversed Crist’s 15% tuition increase and has cut the cost of a college prepaid plan by almost $20,000.”